Pellet stove for heating 100 sq.m.: which one to choose?

This article will help you understand what type of pellet stove you need to heat a home sized 100 sq.m.. Let’s start by calculating the surface area of your home and its heating needs. This will allow us to identify the kW of the pellet stove needed to heat 100 sq.m., to ensure you have maximum comfort in the winter months.

Winter is coming and you’re looking for the best way to heat your home. You want low bills, this is why you are thinking about pellet heating, which is economical and eco-sustainable. In addition, you’ve already seen a nice designer stove that would add a nice touch to your living room.

There’s just one thing you’re not sure of: how many Kilowatts should it have?

In this article we’ll try and answer a question connected to a specific case: what is the best pellet stove to choose for heating a home sized 100 sq.m.? To find this out, lets start by looking at how to calculate the heating needs of a space.

How to calculate the heating needs of a home

To understand what type of pellet stove is suitable for heating 100 sq.m. we need to calculate the required heating power.

When you calculate the heating needs of your home, the most important thing is not to underestimate your needs. Below is a guide calculation and remember: only a specialised heating technician can provide you with an exact calculation, following a detailed survey. There are many variables (not all of which can be predicted) that can affect the needs of your home, such as, for example, the effective degree of insulation of the space, the materials and year of construction, exposure to sunlight…

With this in mind, let’s look at the calculation together, introducing the concept of the energy requirement indicator. Expressed in Kilowatts (kW), this is worked out using a mathematical formula that considers these factors:

cubic metres to be heated

heating coefficient, which indicates the calories (which we will then convert to Kilowatts) required per cubic metre. This coefficient varies according to the heating conditions of the home and its geographic position (north, centre, south)

If you first want to get an idea of how many kW you’ll need to heat a 100 sq.m. home, continue reading…

How many kW must a pellet stove have to heat 100 sq.m.? An example calculation

Lets try and look at an example, considering a house or flat with the following characteristics:

a surface area of 100 sq.m. and a ceiling height of 2.70 m

a location that is not too cold

average insulation

Let’s start by calculating the cubic metres (volume) of your home, which is achieved by multiplying the surface area with the ceiling height:

100 m² x 2.70 m = 270 m³

Now let’s multiply the cubic metres with the heating coefficient. As we mentioned before, this value indicates the calories required to heat each cubic metre. This varies according to the heating conditions of the home and its geographic position. In our country, this coefficient – which derives from heating engineering formulas and calculations – varies between a minimum of 30 and a maximum of 40.

Following our example, lets look at an average value of 35 kcal/m².

Let’s calculate the heating demand in kilo calories (kcal), multiplying the volume by the heating coefficient:

270 m³ x 35 kcal/m² = 9,450 kcal

Now we’ve got our kilo calories, let’s work out the corresponding kW. We know that Kcal/860 = kW, therefore:

9.450/860 = 10.98 kW

The result we’ve achieved will allow us to answer the next question:

Pellet stove: how many kW are needed to heat 100sqm?

The calculations we’ve made have allowed us to show that in order to heat a home with a surface area of 100 sq.m. with an average amount of insulation in a location that is not too cold, you would need a pellet stove of at least 10 kW.

This is just a general indication, nevertheless, once you’ve obtained a precise calculation for your home, it is always advisable to add a pair of kW to the result. Therefore in our example we should opt for a 12 kW pellet stove. Why? In the coldest weeks of winter, during which the stove is required to work harder, you’ll still be guaranteed maximum comfort. You don’t want to risk walking round the home wrapped in a blanket, do you?

Remember that these are just rough calculations, designed to give you a rough idea. They can’t substitute assessments made by a heating technician, which include many more criteria and something else extremely important: experience!

A professional technician will be able to tell you the best way to heat your home and suggest any incentives available for energy-saving stoves.

What is the best pellet stove for heating your home?

We’ve given you an idea of how much heat a 12 kW pellet stove can provide in a 100 sq.m. home, but how can you achieve maximum comfort and uniform heat distribution? What type of pellet stove should you choose for heating several rooms on different floors?

A ducted pellet stove could be the solution you are looking for. For this reason we recommend reading this interesting article about using a ducted pellet stove to provide optimum heating and save money. A stove of this type allows you to channel the flow of warm air into distant rooms or onto different floors, with the guarantee of always achieving the same level of comfort as the room the stove is installed in, eliminating annoying temperature differences between different rooms.

What is the best pellet stove for heating 100sqm?

In this article we’ve seen how heating a 100 sq.m. home with an average amount of insulation that isn’t located high in the mountains, will require a 12 kW pellet stove, better still a ducted stove, so that the heat reaches all the rooms in the home uniformly.

We have achieved this result by calculating the cubic metres and heating demand, also considering the possibility of having to tackle some especially cold weeks. Of course this is just a rough guess, but it should help you make an initial assessment of the pellet stove to buy.

If you also want to find out more about which fuel to buy and how to assess prices, we recommend this article on how to choose the best pellets: it will help you to choose quality products that will optimise the performance of your pellet stove.

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